The only thing I shall say is this- I am not a month late. *accepts applause from audience* Now, this was actually supposed to be posted up last week. However, I fell ill and couldn't write anything intelligent, and then I got stuck on the final page. Le sigh. I'm honestly no good at endings.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

"Would you stand still, Alfred?" Arthur snapped, feeling his patience slip as Alfred shifted once more, nearly tearing the button off his coat again. "This is what you get when you are reckless."

Alfred frowned, clearly ready to start pouting and whining. "I said I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it."

Arthur didn't answer, finally finishing his task of sewing the button on. "There," he muttered, drawing back with his needle and string. "Listen to me next time when I ask you to calm down, okay?" He didn't even wait for Alfred's reply, knowing it would just be the usual rehearsed apology that all children would give to their parents. "Matthew, is everything set straight on your outfit?" He could at least be assured that Matthew hadn't ruined anything. Alfred, on the other hand, obviously wasn't mature enough to be trusted alone with a pirate outfit and fake sword.

The much quieter boy looked himself over and gave a nod. "Yes, sir," he answered, giving a shy smile. "Thanks for making this costume for me, Mr. Kirkland."

"Oh, it was no trouble." Matthew's kind attitude melted away Arthur's previous irritation, and he found himself smiling once more. "You two look amazing."

With a grin, Alfred raised his fake sword. "Yo-ho, mateys!" he yelled in what he believed to be a perfect pirate voice. "Shiver me timbers!"

Arthur snorted. "Wonderful, Alfred," he praised sarcastically. "Just wonderful."

His lack of enthusiasm, though, didn't seem to bother Alfred much. "Hey, Dad, when can we go? I'm bored of waiting here."

"Once Antonio arrives with Lovino and Feliciano," Arthur responded, straightening down Matthew's hair. "They should be here any minute."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. "They're here!" Alfred exclaimed, running to answer the door. "Hey, Anto- oh, hi, Francis!"

Arthur groaned, slapping a hand over his face as he followed Alfred to the door. He didn't expect the frog to be here, and he didn't want the frog to be here. "What do you want, Francis?" he growled, pushing Alfred back. "I didn't invite you."

Francis, wearing a tie and dress pants and looking absolutely spiffy, just smirked. "Why, monsieur, I came to see the little ones." He pushed Arthur aside, as he usually did when he came to visit, and spotted Alfred and Matthew. "Oh, what lovely costumes!"

Pleased with Francis' reaction, Alfred grinned happily. "Yeah, Dad made them for us! We're pirates!" He took his fake sword and, again, raised it in the air. "I'm Captain Alfred, and this is Captain Matthew!"

Francis chortled, patting Alfred on his head. "Oui, you two are marvelous captains." He glanced over at Matthew. "Matthieu, that color suits you quite nicely."

"Doesn't it, though?" Arthur broke in, giving a satisfied smile and a nod of his head. "Took me forever to bloody sew. But, it was worth it, seeing as how it turned out amazing." He took pride in his work, and it made him feel all the better when others noticed his remarkable creativity.

Matthew blushed. "Th-Thanks," he muttered, clearly feeling a bit awkward to be under such attention. Luckily, he was saved from saying anything more by the ding-dong of Arthur's doorbell.

The Englishman marched to answer, muttering, "That had better be Antonio." And, as wished, when Arthur opened the door, he found the Spaniard grinning on his porch, ushering his two children inside. "Happy Halloween, Arthur!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Where are the other two?" He needn't have asked, though, for Alfred and Matthew both came running up, Francis following close behind. Once Antonio laid his eyes on their costumes, he gasped. "Amazing, Arthur! They look absolutely adorable! Aw, such cute children we have, no? Oh, hola, Francis! I was about to go visit you at your house."

Francis smiled charmingly. "I thought this place was much more lively. It's not everyday I have my own personal Brit to irritate, is it, Arthur?"

Arthur's eyebrow twitched as he turned to face Lovino and Feliciano. Both were dressed as chefs, and very fine ones at that. "Antonio, where did you get these costumes?" Arthur asked. "They look amazing."

Stopping his conversation with Francis, Antonio replied, "I have a seamstress friend, and she is quite skilled with her hands, as you can tell."

Francis' eyes sparkled with amusement. "Skilled with her hands, you say? My, you must-"

"Git, not in front of the children," Arthur hissed, smacking the Frenchman.

Alfred laughed, counting the candy in his basket. "I don't have very much yet!"

"It's because we haven't been out for too long," Matthew replied intelligently, giving a small smile as he realized he had at least one piece more than Alfred did, judging by the looks. "Besides, I'm sure most people are rationing the candy so there will be enough to go around."

"What's rationing?" Alfred asked, though he clearly didn't look as if he were interested at all. Matthew didn't even bother trying to explain it.

Suddenly, Alfred was jerked back by Lovino. "Bastard, watch where you're going," he growled, successfully stopping a near-collision Alfred would have faced with some younger child. "Damn, you're really idiotic, aren't you?"

Feliciano tugged on his brother's arm. "Don't say mean things like that, Lovi! Alfred didn't mean to!"

"Yeah!" Alfred gave a pout, crossing his arms. "You're just a meanie-face, Lovi." However, he didn't mean anything by this, and Lovino must have known that, for they didn't argue about that fact. "Hey, look, I think I see Kiku up ahead!" He flailed his arms about, positively beaming. "Hey, Kiku!"

The young Japanese boy noticed his friends (for one would have to be pretty blind and deaf to not notice Alfred) and scurried on over, his fox tail dangling behind him. "H-Hello," he stammered out to the group, bowing his head politely.

"Hey, Kiku, have you met Lovi and Feli?" Alfred asked, pulling him towards the two Italian brothers. "Feli is that younger, shorter one and Lovi is the mean one."

"Hello, Feli-chan and Lovi-chan," Kiku greeted. He then noticed Matthew standing right beside him. "Oh, and hello to you, too, Matthew. I didn't see you there."

Matthew shrugged. "It's okay," he muttered, completely used to that sort of treatment.

Alfred glanced around. "Where's your dad?" he asked, unable to find the Chinese man that adopted Kiku. "I thought he always comes trick-or-treating with you."

Kiku gave a soft smile. "He told me I can be trusted to go alone. Only, I have to stay within this street. And, besides, I believe I'm going to Heracles house. I have enough candy to last me a while, and Heracles hasn't played with me in a long time."

Glancing into Kiku's candy bag, Alfred made a face. "That doesn't look like a lot," he observed, unable to grasp the fact that most people didn't eat nearly as much as he did.

"It is for me," Kiku replied. "Well, I must be off. It was nice meeting everyone." He bowed his head and stumbled off, tripping over the long, fox tail clipped to the back of his pants.

Lovino scoffed. "He was weird. How come we never see him at school?"

"He's home-schooled!" Alfred answered, acting as if it was the most amazing thing on the planet. "His dad, Yao, teaches him everything! Isn't that awesome? He probably doesn't have to do any homework."

Feliciano grabbed hold of Alfred's arm. "But I bet he doesn't have recess, either!"

This seemed to make the boys considerably brighter about having a recess when Kiku didn't, but Lovino, the ever-smart middle school student, was quick to crush their dreams. "Middle schools don't have playgrounds, you know."

"Remind me again why this was a good idea," Arthur grumbled, seated on his couch and glaring over at Francis, who feigned a look of complete and utter innocence. "I hate having you in my house."

"But, mon cher, you need some sort of company on Halloween! Antonio and I are happy to oblige."

Antonio, grinning cheerfully and without a care in the world, instantly agreed. "Francis told me you're always alone, Arthur. That's not good. You need friends, like us!"

Arthur resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "My friends, as a matter of fact, just so happen to be out of town or-"

"What other friends do you have?" Francis asked, suddenly looking curious and concerned.

This didn't do much to help Arthur's already-foul temper. "I have many friends, Francis," he growled through gritted teeth. "Like I said, they're out of town or helping children with trick-or-treating." If he had a quarter for every time Francis irritated him, Arthur would be insanely rich. Francis was just that sort of person who knew how to rub his skin the wrong way.

Francis sat back in his chair, regarding Arthur with suspicion in his eyes. "I would like to meet them," he declared, twirling his fingers around his wavy, blond hair. "I must make sure these friends don't mistreat ma belle Arthur."

"Quit giving me those weird, French nicknames!" Arthur snapped, quite pleased that he couldn't speak much French. He honestly didn't want to know what those words meant. "And, no, you, of all people, are not meeting with any of my friends."

As if rehearsed, Antonio spoke up. "I will, then! No worries, Francis, I'll make sure these friends are perfect for Arthur."

"Ah, thank you, Antonio." Francis patted his friend's hand, leaning across his seat to do so, as Antonio was currently sitting next to Arthur. "I trust you with my life."

Arthur wanted to groan. "Neither of you are meeting my friends. End of discussion."

This gained him a few minutes of silence before Antonio said, "Well, Gilbert likes meeting new people, doesn't he?"

"Oui." Francis nodded. "He would be a good choice. He has the liveliness to easily make them comfortable enough to show their true intentions."

"None of you are going to meet my friends." Arthur did groan this time. "Not Francis, not Antonio, not Gilbert." Not only would they scare of his friends, but he really didn't have any friends to scare off. If he had to be truthful, Francis and Antonio were the only two people he regularly hung out with on a daily basis.

Which absolutely terrified him to bits.

Antonio gave a small pout. "Arthur, you're very mean."

"Yes, yes, I'm aware of that." Arthur checked the clock on his wall. "I don't think we should have trusted them."

"Who?" Francis looked surprised by the sudden change in conversation.

"The children, git." Scowling, the Englishman leaned back in his chair. "They're an unruly bunch, the lot of them, and I can't believe I ever allowed Alfred and Matthew to go trick-or-treating without supervision."

Instead of seeming worried, though, the two other men merely smiled. "Aw, Arthur, Lovinio's old enough to watch after them. He'll make sure the young ones stay in line, I assure you."

"Oui." Francis nodded, agreeing with the Spaniard. "Besides, Matthieu is also a smart child. I've noticed that he tends to watch over Alfred when need be." With a pointed smirk, he continued. "You're simply a worrywart, Arthur. You need to loosen up some. Would you like me to open a bottle of wine?"

Arthur looked away. "Heavens no. I'm not even going to be tempted into getting drunk when Alfred could arrive home at any minute." He always made sure that he only drank when his son was away for a while. Being a bad role model was one of his worst nightmares, and he had no wish for Alfred to see him wasted.

Francis and Antonio both gave a sigh, glancing over at each other. "Arthur is boring, isn't he?" Antonio asked.

"He most certainly is. Why, he must have been grumpy from the day he was born."

Arthur's rather large eyebrow twitched. "Stop that. I'm right here."

He could see Francis opening his mouth to say more, but was saved by the knock on his front door. "Thank goodness," he murmured, quickly leaving the room to answer it.

"Hiya, Dad!" Alfred was grinning as he stepped into the house, Matthew, Lovino, and Feliciano right behind him. "You should have come with us! We even went into a haunted house! It was scary, but I managed to make it all the way to the end, because I'm a hero and that's what heroes-"

"He didn't make it past the entrance," Lovino grumbled, walking away from the younger children.

Alfred gave a pout. "Don't listen to him, Dad. I made it all the way through."

"Oh, I'm sure," Arthur replied, closing his door and trying to hide his smile. Lovino's tale was much more believable than Alfred's, but he wasn't going to say anything. After all, Alfred deserved to have one day where he could act like a brave lad. "Did you get a lot of candy?"

In response, Alfred held out his bag. "Look! I went through every house I could!"

Arthur looked at the massive amount of candy. "It looks as if though you went to every house twice."

His son gave a sheepish smile and scurried off to the kitchen to place his candy down. Arthur turned his gaze on Matthew, who was laughing at something Feliciano had said. "How about you two?"

"Oh, I got a lot, too," Matthew said, glancing down at his bag. "I think we all got the same amount."

Well, that sent a wave of relief through Arthur. He was afraid the boys would start up a fight if someone got more, especially Alfred and Lovino. "Well, why don't you all choose a few pieces to eat and come into the living room to watch a movie?"

As the boys grabbed their candy and ran into the living room, laughing and yelling, as he heard Francis and Antonio join in, Arthur knew it was going to be a long night.

My endings suck. Seriously.

Er, anyway, please feel free to leave a review if you liked it! I don't have much to say, so...yeah...until next chapter!